Authored by Petrit Latifi
Photo taken from Koha.net
In 1912, the Austro-Hungarian authorities accused the Serbian authorities for violating international laws when the Serbian army hindered the consulates from doing their job. In the publication “Politische Chronik der Oesterreichische-Ungarischen Monarchie 1912” we can read:
“1. Serbians in Prizren and Mitrovica have been guilty of several gross violations of undisputed provisions of international law. Examples of this are: the arrest of the consular postal cavalryman on his way from Prizren to Verisovic (Ferizaj) by a Serbian patrol on October 24th, who took a sealed mail bag addressed to our consulate in Üstüb (Shkup)”.
This sealed mail bag contained most likely reports of Serbian atrocities against Albanian civilians of which the Serbian government was trying to hide.
2. The relocation of the consular offices in and Mitrovica with Serbian military, a measure that was carried out for some time in such a way that it completely paralyzed even the local official activities of the two consuls; the arrest and detention for two days of the honorary ban on November 24th.
The Austro-Hungarian government has never failed to acknowledge the difficulties that the Serbian government had to contend with in view of the war situation and the intransigence of the Serbian military circles. It has therefore handled the matter with such calm and patience and only after a thorough investigation and after the facts had been fully clarified did it make the above-mentioned demand for satisfaction.”
Reference
Politische Chronik der Oesterreichische-Ungarischen Monarchie 1912
Balkan Academia 